1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an information processing apparatus and method and an information processing system which are used for an information processing apparatus such as a personal computer, workstation, or the like having a window system of a server client type, wherein the contents of work which is executed on a window opened on a display are recorded so that they can be reconstructed and the recorded work contents are reconstructed.
2. Related Background Art
In a conventional window system of the server client type, by communicating messages among an input device, such as keyboard mouse, or the like, a window system server for managing a display such as a CRT, liquid crystal display, or the like, and an activated client application, the user can execute a work using the client application while watching the window opened on the display.
In the server client type window system, it is desired that the contents of work which is executed on the open window by the client application are reconstructed later without improving the existing window server and client application of the system.
To realize the above method, there is considered a method whereby a window in which the work contents have been drawn is recorded as bit map data at any desired time during the work or, in the case of work in an application which has a saving/loading function, there is also a method whereby the work contents are preserved at any time during the work by changing file names. According to these methods, the contents of the work which is executed on the open window by the client application can be recorded so that the work can be reconstructed, without improving the existing window server and client application of the system.
However, according to the former method of recording the window during the work as bit map data, in order to reconstruct the work as if a video image were reproduced, each time a drawing state of the window changes, it is necessary to preserve the new set of bit map data. Consequently, an extremely large memory capacity is necessary, the load on the processing for recording the bit map data increases, and the processing of the work itself in the client application is delayed. Those drawbacks cause deterioration in working efficiency.
As for the reproduction of the work, although the work contents can be seen as a bit map image, the work cannot be continued after completion of the reproduction.
On the other hand, according to the latter method of preserving the work contents by changing the file name during the work at any desired time, although the work can be continued after completion of the reproduction, it can be realized only by that application to reconstruct the work saving/loading function has. To reconstruct the work as if a video image were reproduced, each time the drawing state of the window changes, it is necessary to preserve the file. Therefore, an extremely large memory capacity is necessary, the load on the processing for preserving increases, and the processing of the work itself in the application is delayed. Those drawbacks cause deterioration in working efficiency.
Further, since it is necessary to read out a number of files continously in the reproducing mode, it is very difficult to execute the reproduction smoothly.
It is an object of the invention to provide an information processing apparatus and method, in which the efficiency with which work is executed in a client application during the activation doesn't deteriorate, a recording process to record the work contents so that they can be smoothly reconstructed can be executed, and a reproducing process which corresponds to the recording process and is necessary to reconstruct the work contents can be efficiently executed.
Another object of the invention is to provide an information processing apparatus and method, in which the efficiency with which work which is being executed in a client application during the activation at present doesn't deteriorate, and a recording process to record the work contents so that they can be smoothly reconstructed can be executed.
A halfway participating process of a new user during the execution of a cooperating work using the conventional window shared system is realized by interrupting the work of the user which has participated so far, saving the work contents at that time point, finishing the client application, making the client operative under an environment including the new user after that, and loading (reading) the saved contents.
In the above conventional apparatus, however, using such halfway participating process, the relatively high costs of saving and then reloading the state of the client means that the work efficiency is deteriorated. Further, there is a problem in the requirement that the user must designate a file to preserve the state of the client because of the operation of the halfway participation and the operation for this purpose is troublesome.
The invention is made in consideration of the above problems of the conventional techniques and it is an object of the invention to provide an information processing system in which a working efficiency and an operability when executing a participating process in the middle are improved.